How to Tell the Tired Fairy to Back Off

Early last Wednesday morning, while barely conscious enough to remember it was my morning to run, I immediately started bargaining with myself. “I’ll start getting up again when it’s September,” I told myself. Satisfied with my sleepy proposition, I stayed tucked under the covers. When I eventually got out of bed, my more-awake self didn’t feel good about that decision for 30-more minutes of unsatisfying sleep. “But you’ll get back to your routine in September,” my lazy alter ego offered as a reminder. And then the real me rolled my eyes and groaned: But today IS September!

I had been duped by the tired fairy.

I have blogged before about that slippery slope, when a few missed workouts can lead to a total couch potato makeover. I’m ready to get out of my funk and build my arsenal against the tired fairy.

• I started taking a multivitamin again.
• Between the morning coffee and the evening glass of wine, I’m drinking more water (pumpkin-colored urine should not be a nod to fall).
• I’m taking my own advice about squeezing in small doses of fitness--10 pushups here, 10 squats there.
• I’ve recommitted to my Wednesday morning run (OK, it’s only been once so far, but I did it).

Another good motivator is motivating others. When Tanya Maslach, the founder of GOTRIbal (a website that cross-posts Mama Sweat) asked me to provide three tips for motivating women in endurance sports, I knew I couldn't very well dish out advice if I was being a slacker and submitting to the will of the tired fairy.

After getting up to run this Wednesday morning I remembered what I know for sure about fitness:

You will never regret getting up early to workout but you almost always will regret missing an early morning workout.

Another truth I've discovered in my life in general and especially in fitness--and applies to squeezing in a short workout between school busses, naps, snack, and grocery store runs as well as watching my body go farther than I could have believed possible:

The more I do the more I realize I can do.

And one of my all-time favorites, which I've shared before, was used by a good friend 20 years ago while bar-hopping, but definitely applies to endurance sports and mothers everywhere:

Bodies in motion stay in motion.

Sharing this advice with the women at GOTRIbal and here with you, is a good refresher for me, as well. I know what I need to do to get out of bed, it's just a matter of being able to recall it when it's dark and I'm sooooo comfortable under the covers. I must be mentally strong, too, in order to keep fitness in my hands and not the hands of the tired fairy.